Spray Bar in an UGF

[schaadrak]

Okay here's my idea:

Large rocks with gaps large enough to allow almost all solid wastes through, sitting on top of egg crate. A spray bar; either plumbed as an auxiliary return from the main pump or as a closed loop; is situated at the front, underneath the rocks, and directing the current towards the back. This will hopefully push most, if not all, of the solid waste into the output pipes and down into the sump.

Here's a shot from below

The blue arrows are the main flow of water through the rocks, the yellow arrows are the flow from the spray bar, and the red arrow indicates water/solid waste flow out into the sump.

Hopefully this will help to cut back on the build up of mulm in the main tank and move it into the planted refugium section of my sump. But if anyone sees any major flaws with it, I won't include into my plans.

 

[matthew112687]

sitting on top of egg crate.

Looks good, but what will be holding up the egg crate off of the bottom of the aquarium, so there is room for the water to push the waste into the pipe that goes into the sump?

 

[CHOMPERS]

Very true. Eggcrate by itself will not hold up the rocks. Also, no matter how large the rocks are, some poo will get stuck where the rocks meet each other. Still, I like your idea and design.

Another alternative, is an up flow under gravel system. The water flows up through your gravel and keeps it clean. My system isn't 100% perfect buy it is close enough. Trapped poo and debris eventually dislodges and makes its way to the overflow. It has been running since January/February and does not have a build up. I am using pea gravel (river rock) as substrate. The gravel also adds to the bio-surface.

 

[schaadrak]

Thanks for the feedback guys.

matthew - There will probably be strips of plexi running the width of the tank every 8" - 10" to hold the eggcrate up. This might also have the added bonus of channeling the flow more, but I'll have find a way to fit the spray bar down there.

CHOMPERS - I'm not really just trying to keep poo off of the substrate, I'm trying to move any solid wastes (poo, food scraps, etc) into the planted area of my sump (which I plan on having displayed) so that the plants will have something to eat.

I looked at reverse flow UGF as well as undergravel jet systems, but decided that flow alone is not as good as gravity plus flow.

 

[Dr Joe]

The spray bar is going to have to set up a current only or it will blow the trash back up thru the rocks (spray bar has less pressure than the outflow).

Angle the plexi strips toward the outflow also.

Keep us posted,

Dr Joe

.

 

[tonymofo]

Great Idea, just gave me an excuse to set up a new tank....thanks

 

[matthew112687]

Seems like you have it very well planned out, make sure to post some pictures up as you build